Police: man killed by Mich. deputy didn’t fire weapon

Brookfield Township, Mich. – State police say investigators have determined a man didn’t fire a weapon before he was fatally shot by a central Michigan sheriff’s deputy following a short police chase.

Authorities had said after Tuesday afternoon’s confrontation that 64-year-old Robert Claude Smith shot at Eaton County deputies in a rural area of Brookfield Township, about 20 miles southwest of Lansing.

Detective First Lt. Thomas DeClercq said Wednesday Smith died of a gunshot wound to the head after ramming his vehicle into two sheriff’s vehicles. The Lansing State Journal reports DeClercq declined to say whether Smith had a gun.

DeClercq says deputies had gone to Smith’s home with an arrest warrant charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm. One deputy suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital.